Live Well Today

I grew up in a little town resting on the outskirts of the capital city, filled with farm houses, a country store, and an old railroad track.

In the evenings my Daddy would pile me and my sisters in his old pick up truck to drive us to the country store for candy bars and a pack of bubble gum.

It was kind of routine the way we would all ride together.

On the way my Daddy would say “now girls, your mama doesn’t need to know that I am getting you a candy bar. Lets just keep that between us now, alright?”

Sugar wasn’t exactly a thing we got to have regularly, so we would always nod in agreement to his plan.

We would pick out our candy and scarf it down on the ride home in hopes to hide our secrets even though the chocolate residue on our faces gave us away.

I can remember feeling so guilty about hiding my candy consumption from my mother that I would run through the doors and say, “Daddy got us candy at the store, mama!”

While my sisters rolled their eyes at my big mouth, my mama would kneel down in front of me and say, “Mercy, Child!”

It was as if “mercy” replaced “Good Lord you’re covered in chocolate. I can’t believe your Daddy gave you that much sugar before bed.”

instead,

it was always mercy.

Mercy in her heart, mercy out of her mouth.

mercy.

Over the years of listening to my Southern mama talk, I realized I picked up on her tendency to use small phrases to fill in holes or gaps where we are uncertain what to say but feel the need to say something… “bless it…”

We can’t help it.

It’s habit. It’s nature. It’s just what we do.

Montgomery is Southern as they come with monogrammed decals and hair bows bigger than a head, but it’s home and it makes sense to us.

These words that we use, sayings that we say, quotes from Lawyers in Monroeville, AL are things that remind us that we are home.

Our city is working towards greater goals, casting nets for a bigger vision and attempting to draw in its locals with a renewed set of lenses to see the city for what it is becoming and no longer reaching back for what it might have once been.

Filled with friends that understand our random sayings, family that remembers our roots, and faces of new comers attempting to grasp on to what there is to love about this place.

It’s the people.

The people that make this city so wonderful and warm.

The people that say one word to describe an entire thought.

The people that work along side you and do life with you.

The people that draw out your creative side and partner with you to try new things.

The people that grieve what you grieve and have joy in what you delight in.

The people that care about your business that’s prospering or that was abruptly stolen.

The people that invite you over for coffee to ask about your life.

The people that make you laugh without saying a word.

It’s the people that make this place so perfect.

It’s the people that make any place what it is,

but I am glad that my people are here.

These adorable shirts can be Pre-Ordered starting today!

Email: Laura.Bell91@yahoo.com with your shirt size and we will reply you a link for pre-order.

Tees:$20

Sweatshirt: $30

Shirts are true to your normal t shirt size.

Tomorrow, we will be at the Market at Chapel Hill at the Waters selling coffee, shirts, and so many other fun goodies.

It is an old country house that rests on a road that borders the divide of two North Alabama counties.

Built in 1933 by hands of hardworking relatives of mine, the ones I’ll only meet in glory, but whose stories, pieces, and lives have touched the walls of that old house.

My grandmother, my only one still living, still lives in that house all these years later.

In my childhood, the early 1990’s, it was a home moving and rustling with the sound of my Grandparents hollering at one another in casual conversation merely because of my Grandfathers lighting struck ear.

You could hear the cows right outside their house and the smell of the chicken houses permeated the air just miles down the road… (my dad used to say chicken houses “smell like money”… I beg to differ).

My grandmother cooking, my grandfather making bottles for the baby calves, and the smell of breakfast oozing in the bedrooms where my sisters and I were sleeping. We would smell it and I swear my grandmother cooked like that with the sheer purpose of drawing us into the kitchen with her.

Bacon, salt pork, sausage, gravy, eggs and biscuits.

Not the kind that you can buy pre made in that pop open tube, no i’m talking realbiscuits, y’all.

The kind she “just threw together cause Papa Doc (our grandfather) was gon’ be hungry” if she didn’t.

The kind that make your mouth water when they are being pulled from the oven.

“Mama Rue, how do you make those?” I’d ask.

“Well Hon’, you just getcha a lil’ flour, lil’ buttermilk, lil shortnin’, maybe a lil egg if ya’ gotcha one. Then ya’ just roll em out on ya’ towel, but be sure its got a little flour on it so it don’t stick, cut em’ out, stick em on ya pan… and be sure the pan is buttered cause Lord knows that’s a chore you ain’t gon’ want when they come out.”

HA, did you catch on? 🙂

I’d sit and watch as she made them, trying to see if I could memorize it somehow.

There was a comfort level that she had with herself when she was making food.

She had this innate ability to take all that was left in her kitchen and turn it into a masterpiece.

I’d watch her, memorize her moves and stare in amazement at the walls of her kitchen covered in mason jars filled with every vegetable you could dream of that she canned herself.

One thing was for sure, I have never been hungry at my grandmother’s house.

Somedays I like to sit and remember what it was like watching her mill around the kitchen with such ease and peace.

Today she cant do much milling around like she used to, so phone calls to her and occasional visits seem to suffice for cooking lessons.

She’ll call me to make sure I got my farmers almanac in the mail and that Cody was staying fed.

We recently chatted where she let out a minor fuss at me saying, “Now, Laaaauuuura, you make them biscuits I taught ya to make for Cody this morning? I hear he’s doing yard work today. Ya can’t let that boy work out there without any biscuits.”

How that woman knows what happening 3 hours south of her is beyond me, but she knows… she always knows.

We stayed on the phone while she spit out her “little bits of this” until the biscuits were made.

Opening my oven to those dreamy, buttery, buttermilky goodness took my heart and mind back to those mornings in the 1990’s when my feet hit the shag carpet of her old house and took off running towards the smell of breakfast in the Northern Hills of Alabama.

I had to sit a minute to reflect, to remember, and feel as nostalgia rushed over me.

That moment, stepping out of my car in my raggedy flip flops, dodging the broken glass in the street, and feeling the Alabama summer heat bring sweat beads down my face, I looked up to see the food pantry in Washington Park glowing in the summer sun with her half primed front and her new roof all structured and secure. 🙂

Pastor Austin was standing there on the porch waiting for me with the anticipation of a kid waiting on their slice of the birthday cake.

He was so proud… “Laura Jeaaaaan!” He said in his voice that could never really yell, but only fluctuate with extreme excitement.

“Pastorrrrrrr” I replied with enthusiasm.

We fist bumped, as per usual, and Pastor Austin led me inside to see the latest renovations.

I walked into the living room that once captured stagnant heat, the sound of a loud fan, and zero walls, now had SHEET ROCK and the most perfect AC quietly cooling off the place.

There were folks inside visiting, taking a small break from work on the place who looked to me with the most welcoming smiles, it was as if they had known me for years.

The bathroom has appliances (not yet installed) but purchased and getting close to installment.

There was new tile laid on the bathroom floor and boxes waiting right around the corner to be used for the ENTIRE home to be covered.

It was easy to see that renovations did not slow the ministry of feeding the community.

Before I knew it I was back outside with Pastor, talking with him about what was next for the food pantry… along with stories of God’s movement in and through this little house.

I learned stories of families that are living without running water and AC, but finding restoration in this place.

I watched as Pastor’s face grew sad talking about the mothers who can hardly feed their kids because of bills that taunt them and nobody to turn to for help.

I listened and recognized that this… these issues were less than 2 miles from my little house.

That was the moment.

The one that I want to write down and never forget.

The one that I want to store in my memory so that I can relive and remember the emotion I felt.

Why?

Because I never again want to be unaware that there are families that need something as simple as a shower.

Because in my new found awareness, I can tell the stories of those scary moments of families that are saying, “what do we do now” and share how YOU did something about it.

How YOU were the resource that helped Pastor become the person that they can turn to and see hope.

Because of you, A new roof is on this house.

Because of you, there is AC.

Because of you, there is flooring for every square foot.

Because of you, there is storage for the food.

Because of you, there are bathroom appliances.

I am certain today, that because of you, we will eventually have every part of this place completely in order.

I wanted to say thank you for donating money, time, energy, and effort.

Thank you for floors, showers, sinks, and a roof.

For the future of this food pantry, I want to store away in my sock drawer a “memory to come” of sorts… one that pictures a moment when I see Pastor nod his head in humble satisfaction of a finished work, awe of the God who put this vision in his path in the first place, and peace in knowing that this can keep moving forward.

Hallelujah for knowledge of the needs of our community and Praise God for a community that says yes to meeting those needs.

If you would like to know how you can further the help, here is a list of remaining needs.

-Ceiling fans

-Desktop computer for Job Applications

-Washer and Dryer

-Funds for a new foundation

-Funds for a new porch

-Paint

-Bathroom appliances

All questions to further explain specifics can be answered by emailing me at Laura@CGMLife.org

We, more than anything, thank those of you who have already helped with our needs and we thank others of you in advance for the things to come.